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http://www.islandershockeyblog.com/2010-articles/february/hillen-and-jackman-to-play-tuesday.htmlAccording to Newsday, Jack Hillen who suffered an Alex Ovechkin slap shot to the face January 26th, will be back in action Tuesday when the Isles take on the Hawks. Also, Isles enforcer Tim Jackman who took a punch to the eye by Sens Matt Carkner on New Years Eve, is expected to return as well on Tuesday. Jackman sufferd a broken orbital bone and will be wearing a visor. Forward Josh Bailey will also return after missing some time due to an injury.Islanders Defenseman Mark Streit will return to NY tomorrow from the Vancouver Olympic games. Also, the Isles have signed Bridgeport Defenseman Andrew MacDonald to a four year extension. The Canadian defenseman has played 38 games this season totaling one goal and four assists. He seems to have been fitting in with Islanders head coach Scott Gordon's system very well.

Rumor update:

It seems that the Islanders may be interested in Oilers foward Shawn Horcoff. In 56 games played by the 31 year old with the Oilers this season, his stats are 9 goals and 14 assists totaling 23 points.I'll try to confirm.

As I flipped through the channels late last night, I stumbled upon MSNBC's post game show for the Quarterfinals game between Canada and Russia. Canada won by a whopping score of 7-3, former Islanders coach and GM, and now NBC hockey commentator Mike Milbury expressed his frustration at the Russian team by saying this:

"I was shocked that it was this one-sided. And I was really disappointed that these guys came with their euro-trash game. It was just, no heart, no guts, no nothing there to back it up. I mean Alex Ovechkin was an average player tonight. I know they're going to bounce back, but to be that poor and to be that intimidated physically by the Canadians, that really shocked me."

Milbury's co-hosts were jaw dropped at the poor usage of words. One of panelists, Bill Patrick, responded by saying "Did you really say euro-trash? Did that come out of your mouth?"

Apparently, Milbury has an extensive history of these gaffes. He referred to former Islander Ziggy Palffy's agent Paul Kraus as a "moron way over his head" (oh no, he didn't stop there); he later notes that "It's too bad [Kraus] lives in the city. He's depriving some small village of a pretty good idiot." Even more recently in this Olympic tournament, he compared the German team to a "fire hydrant" getting peed on.

As I turned away from the television to ponder on this for a moment, I thought to myself "what was NBC thinking!?!?!"

But It's not like Mike Milbury has ANY hockey credibility anyway... This is the man who ran the Islanders into the ground!

During his tenure in the Islanders' front office, he threw away young players who have turned out to have remarkable careers. These include defensemen Zdeno Chara, Wade Redden, Bryan Berard, Eric Brewer (whom Milbury described as "playing like he's sniffing glue"), Darius Kasparaitis, and Bryan McCabe; goalies Tommy Salo and Roberto Luongo (about whom Milbury quoted "We're rolling the dice here a little bit...He is a class act and a kid I know we would have been happy to ride with. But hell, I've gotta send him off."), as well as forwards Olli Jokinen, Todd Bertuzzi, Tim Connolly, and Raffi Torres. Subsequently, Milbury threw away 2001 second overall pick Jason Spezza as part of the Alexi Yashin trade. Milbury has also come under fire for his draft day decisions such as choosing injury liability and goalie Rick DiPietro first overall in 2000 over Dany Heatley or Marian Gaborik.

No word has been given by NBC on whether Milbury will apologize or not. I just want to see if we will get any more childish, unprofessional sound bytes in tomorrow's semi-final games.

I am Nick McGuire and I am a new blogger of islanders hockey blog. I am a big Islander fan and I support them all the way. It is a pleasure to be a part of this blog. I am always on top of Islander trade rumors so I will update this as soon as I hear something. All I know as of now is that the Isles are most likely shopping Roloson. As we know, their plan was to trade Biron before the deadline but he has little value because of his 4-11-2 record. However, Roloson's record is 19-13-6 and that's pretty good for a soon to be 41 year old next season. As of now, the Hawks seem interested in Rolie. The Isles could go either way. They could trade Roloson or they could trade Biron. It doesn't seem likely that they would trade both. Also, the Isles are shopping D Andy Sutton who is a 6'6" 245 pound 35 year old defensemen. In 54 GP this season, he has 4 goals and 8 assists. The teams that are interested are New Jersey and also the Hawks, but rumor is that the Bruins are looking for a defenseman as well.

So far this season, the Isles are 25-29-8 heading into the Olympic break with 58 points at the 13th spot. Lately, the Isles have had offensive trouble. Could they get a 2nd or 3rd liner for Sutton or Roloson? Maybe. Also, keep an eye on Jeff Tambellini who has been a healthy scratch for the most of the season. He will either be put on waivers, or maybe Snow will throw him in a package deal. Well see. If I hear anything more, I will post.

Just like NBC, the NHL needs to wake up. At this morning's press conference, which turned in a public negotiation, IIHF President nearly begged Bettman to commit to the 2014 games. Gary Bettman and the will wait to make a decision on the leagues participation in the 2014, A. to see how it will benefit them financially and B. wait until they have a sound CBA in place.

So will they or wont they that is the question. To me it sounds simple, the fans love watching it and the players love participating in it. The answer seems simple enough, the NHL should take part in 2014 Olympics. However it isn't that simple, The old grump owners don't like to shut down, risk injury to key players and more importantly lose money. I guess it's fair in a way and no one can blame them for not wanting to miss the playoff because their star forward is out with an Olympic sized injury.

But if the NHL does not want to go with simple logic, how about some of these scenarios. Should the NHL decide not to go they will now be forced to compete with the NBA and THE OLYMPICS for viewers, think about. Not to mention the mutiny they will have on their hands from players who will disregard what they say and head off to Russia and play for their country. Alex Ovechkin has already said he will play for Russia even if the NHL isn't participating in the Olympics. "Nobody can say to me, 'You can't play for your country in the Olympic Games,'" Ovechkin told ESPN back September. He will play whether you like it or not and will most likely not face any sort of internal disciplinary action since Caps owner, Ted Leonsis, is on Ovies side. Also noting that Ilya Kovalchuk and Evgeni Malkin have also said that they will play regardless of the NHL's decision. This opens the flood gates for the NHL's top talent to stick their middle finger to the NHL and say "were playing in the Olympics." Should be fun watching minor league hockey on TV for two weeks in 2014, it will make for some high NHL T.V ratings and some money making hockey.......JIP.

***

-Islanders asistant Captain, Mark Striet, nearly lead his Swiss team to victory over the Canadians last night in a 3-2 shootout loss.(NBC Olympics)

-Our old friends at the Long Island Press bring us the "Five Keys for Islanders Playoff Drive."(Long Island Press)

-Reports are surfacing that Roloson and Sutton being looked at by several NHL Teams.(@NewYorkIsles)

-Sound Tigers get set to take on the rival Wolf Pack tonight in Hartford.(Sound Tigers)

-Hey XM radio subscribers catch this sundays match up against Hartford on XM's NHL Home Ice station.(Sound Tigers)

-Domink from Lighthouse Hockey rips the "fast food" Olympics a new one and makes the case for the return of the World Cup of Hockey.(Lighthouse Hockey)

]]>ChristianArn312@aol.com (Christian A. )FebruaryFri, 19 Feb 2010 16:53:47 +0000passing the time during the Olympicshttp://www.islandershockeyblog.com/2010-articles/february/passing-the-time-during-the-olympics.html
http://www.islandershockeyblog.com/2010-articles/february/passing-the-time-during-the-olympics.htmlWow it's felt like years since I last wrote on this site. This is just a quick post of some interesting articles and videos to kill some time during the Olympics. (Side Note: will have more pieces up in the coming days about the Olympics, but check out Olympic Hockey Blog for the best coverage and most in depth coverage of Olympic hockey.)

-Newsday writer, Mark Herrmann, has an interesting piece about the man behind this Saturday's Mirabito Outdoor Classic in upstate New York. Did you know the Syracuse Crunch owner is a Ranger fan? (Newsday)

-The Boys at The Rivalry have created an interesting and well thought out list of the top 20 post lock out moments for both the Islanders and Rangers.(The Rivalry)

-Last but not least, Make sure your subscribed to Nike Training and Steve Dangle on You Tube and Twitter for some hilarious and insightful videos and tweets from long time leafs fan and the future face of hockey coverage in Canada, Steve Dangle. Steve Dangle covered the world Juniors for Nike Training and is now covering the Olympics. Here is his latest video,

There were two pleasant surprises from last nights game, Seeing Martin Biron back in net and win and the outstanding effort by rookie Matt Martin, who recorded his first career NHL points in last nights win. "early on I had some butterflies," confessed Martin. " As soon as you get in the rhythm of the game it's just the same game, just a little quicker."

Martin got 14:41 worth of playing time last night , saw power play time and was "elevated" to the first unit by coach Scott Gordon. His biggest asset last night was his ability to make plays, including his feed to Mark Striet to tie the game at three, and his ability to get in front of the net. That was actually the first thing Scott Gordon noticed when he went to see Bridgeport play two weeks ago. "Here he is with two assists and getting the opportunity in his first NHL game to be the power play it says allot," Gordon commented after the game. "There's to much value to have that net presence for any player."

For Biron his start tonight may have been his last in an Islanders uniform. He spent the weekend fine tuning his skills down in Bridgeport for a conditional stint with minor league club. "The last week in Bridgeport was exactly what I needed," Biron revealed after the game. "I went there I had two full days of practice in one net and you take all the shots and you get yourself ready." That's something Biron has not had in awhile, Marty has been viewing games mostly from the press box since the return of Rick Dipietro and has been sharing a net with Dipietro and Roloson during practice. The trip to the AHL was something Biron felt was good for him to get back in game shape. "The American league is not that far off from the NHL," Biron said when asked about his stint in Bridgeport. "The speed of the game is almost there."

For both, Tuesday night's win was something that has boosted their confidence as well as the teams. "Its huge for him, he hasn't played an NHL game in a while," Martin said while talking about Biron. "He came in tonight and played pretty good game. I'm sure it's good for his confidence to get a win in here tonight." As for his own confidence he is not lacking any. "I felt really confident in my game and felt I could be an NHLer and play at this level.

It took the Islanders eight games to finally play the desperate hockey they needed to win. They put Martin Biron in net and brought up Matt Martin and Jessie Joensuu to try and jump start the offensively struggling team.

The first started out uneventful and slow for the Islanders, who only recorded 3 shots on goal in the fist. Biron, who faced nine shots in the first, showed some rust periodically, including on one shot which nearly went in after Biron got a piece of the shot. It managed to fly just over the top of the net.

The second would mark the true awakening of the Isles. "he second period on was good except for the turn over's," Scott Gordon said after the game. The Islanders had several opportunities to score, including one by Andy Sutton which just went high above the net. However the Islanders would get on the board 5:10 into the second by a goal from Freddy Meyer. That would Meyer's second goal of the season giving the Islanders the 1-0 lead. Nashville would come right back just 5 minutes later after Biron made an initial save as he fell to the ice. As one of his defenseman went to clear it away, they swept it right to Cal O'Reilly who tied it up at one. Three minutes later the Islanders gave the puck up during a line change, giving Joel Ward a break away. Ward would beat Biron to give Nashville the 2-1 lead and Andy Sutton slammed his stick in frustration. The Islanders would get a break during the closing minutes of the second, Shea Weber got called for cross checking. The Islanders were able to capitalize on the late power play when Bruno Gervais scored his second goal of the season with help of rookie call up Matt Martin, who got his first NHL point.

The third did not start off well for the Islanders, Blake Comeau got called for cross checking just 1:51 into the third and at 4:12 the Predators had regained the lead off of a power play goal by Steve Sullivan. A deflated Islanders home crowd saw the minutes tick away and as the one minute warning sounded many had started to get their coats on and gather their things to head home. Then at the 19:14 mark the Islander caught their biggest break yet, Nashville's Martin Erat took a boarding penalty to give the Isles the man advantage. The Islanders made them pay, with just eleven seconds remaining on the clock, Mark Striet blasted one from the blue line and past Rinne to tie the game. "It was a very exciting part of the game," Marty Biron explained after the game. "It feels like you just scored an overtime game winner in the playoffs."

The overtime period brought nothing, so they went to the shootout. Frans Nielson would use his patent signature move to beat Rinne. Rinne and Biron would stop the next two shooters giving with the Islanders still up by one. Biron had a chance to end it with a save on Martin Erat, but failed on to poke the puck away and left an open net to score on. John Tavares would get that goal right back and Biron would make the following save to end the game. "In the shootout you get antsy and do things you realize you shouldn't have done," Biron explained with a smile on his face. "But JT [John Tavares] scored a big goal after that and defiantly that second time I wasn't gunna try anything crazy out there and it worked a little better."

The Islanders snap their losing streak at seven and are still just five points out of a playoff spot. They have a game tonight against a tough Penguins team who beat them 5-4 in their last meeting and the have two more home games before stepping away for the Olympic break. The win last night could give the Islanders the confidence to go into the break on high note. About last night's win, Marty Biron said, "this was something that could switch the momentum on our side."